
Class iJi:51_ 
Book J4 IM> 



S8th Congress, 1 SENATE. /Document 

2d Session. j \ No. 268. 



LAST SPEECH OF WILLIAM HcKINLEY 



Delivered at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo 
September 5, J90J 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1904 




S8th Congress, 1 
2d Session. ) 



SENATE. 



Document 
. No. 268. 



^/6 



LAST SPEECH OF WILLIAM McKINLEY 



Delivered at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo 
September 5, 1901 



WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1904 



E7S( 



April 13, 1904.— Presented by Mr. Fairbanks and ordered to be printed 



LAST SPEECH OF WILLIAM McKINLEY 

AT THE PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION 
BUFFALO, N. Y., SEPTEMBER 5, 1901 



President Milbiirn^ Director-General Buchattan^ Com- 
missioners, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
I am glad to be again in the cit}^ of Buffalo and 
exchange greetings \\-ith her people, to whose gener- 
ous hospitality I am not a stranger, and w-ith whose 
good will I have been repeatedl}- and signall}' hon- 
ored. To-day I have additional satisfaction in meet- 
ing and giving welcome to the foreign representatives 
assembled here, whose presence and participation in 
this exposition have contributed in so marked a de- 
gree to its interest and success. To the commis- 
sioners of the Dominion of Canada and the British 
colonies, the French colonies, the Republics of IMex- 
ico and of Central and South America, and the com- 
missioners of Cuba and Porto Rico, who share with 
us in this undertaking, we give the hand of fellow- 
ship and felicitate \\'ith them upon the triumphs of 
art, science, education, and manufacture which the 
old has bequeathed to the new centur}-. 

Expositions are the timekeepers of progress. They 
record the world's advancement. They stimulate the 
energ\', enterprise, and intellect of the people, and 
quicken human genius. They go into the home. 



4 Last Speech of Williain McKiJiley. 

The}- broaden and brighten the dailj- life of the people. 
They open mighty storehouses of information to the 
student. Ever}' exposition, great or small, has helped 
to some onward step. Comparison of ideas is alwa3^s 
educational, and as such instructs the brain and hand 
of man. Friendly rivalr}' follows, which is the spur 
to industrial improvement, the inspiration to useful 
invention and to high endeavor in all departments of 
human activity. It exacts a study of the wants, com- 
forts, and even the whims of the people, and recog- 
nizes the efficacy of high quality and low prices to win 
their favor. The quest for trade is an incentive to men 
of business to devise, invent, improve, and economize 
in the cost of production. Business life, whether 
among ourselves or with other peoples, is ever a 
sharp struggle for success. It will be none the less 
so in the future. Without competition we would be 
clinging to the clumsy and antiquated processes of 
farming and manufacture and the methods of busi- 
ness of long ago, and the twentieth would be no fur- 
ther advanced than the eighteenth century. But 
though commercial competitors we are, commercial 
enemies we must not be. 

The Pan-American Exposition has done its work 
thoroughl}'; presenting in its exhibits evidences of 
the highest skill and illustrating the progress of the 
human family in the Western Hemisphere. This 
portion of the earth has no cause for humiliation for 
the part it has performed in the march of civilization. 
It has not accomplished everything; far from it. It 
has simpl}' done its best, and without vanity or boast- 



Last Speech of William McKiyiley. 5 

fulness, and recognizing the manifold achievements 
of others, it invites the friendly rivalry of all the 
powers in the peaceful pursuits of trade and com- 
merce, and will cooperate with all in advancing the 
highest and best interests of humanit}-. The wisdom 
and energ}- of all the nations are none too great for 
the world's work. The success of art, science, indut 
try, an3~invention is an international asset and a 
common glory. 

After all, how near one to the other is every part 
of the world. Modem inventions have brought into 
close relation widely separated peoples and made them 
better acquainted. Geographic and political divisions 
will continue to exist, but distances have been effaced. 
Swift ships and fast trains are becoming cosmopolitan. 
The}? invade fields which a few 3'ears ago were impene- 
trable. The world's products are exchanged as never 
before, and with increasing transportation facilities 
come increasing knowledge and larger trade. Prices 
are fixed with mathematical precision by supply and 
demand. The world's selling prices are regulated by 
market and crop reports. We travel greater distances 
in a shorter space of time and with more ease than 
was ever dreamed of by the fathers. 
^] Isolation is no longer possible or desirable ' The 
same important news is read, though in different lan- 
guages, the same day in all Christendom. The tele- 
graph keeps us ad\'ised of what is occurring every- 
where, and the press forshadows, with more or less 
accuracy, the plans and purposes of the nations. 
Market prices of products and of securities are hourly 



6 Last Speech of Williatn McKinky. 

known in every commercial mart, and tlie investments 
of the people extend beyond their own national bound- 
aries into the remotest parts of the earth. Vast trans- 
actions are conducted and international exchanges are 
made by the tick of the cable. Every event of interest 
is immediately bulletined. The quick gathering and 
transmission of news, like rapid transit, are of recent 
origin, and are only made possible by the genius of 
the inventor and the courage of the investor. It took 
a special messenger of the Government, with every 
facility known at the time for rapid travel, nineteen 
days to^o from the city of Washington to New Orleans 
with a message to General Jackson that " ftfe'wair with 
England had ceased and a treat)- of peace had been 
signed. How different now! We reached General 
Miles in Porto Rico by cable, and he was able through 
the military telegraph to stop his army on the firing 
line with the message that the United States and Spain 
had signed a protocol suspending hostilities. We knew 
almost instantly of the first shots fired at Santiago, and 
the subsequent surrender of the Spanish forces was 
known at Washington within less than an hour of its 
consummation. The first ship of Cervera's fleet had 
hardly emerged from that historic harbor when the 
fact was flashed to our capital and the swift destruc- 
tion that followed was announced immediately through 
the wonderful medium of telegraphy. So accustomed 
are we to safe and easy communication with distant 
lands, that its temporary interruption, even in ordi- 
nary times, results in loss and inconvenience. We 
shall never forget the days of anxious waiting and 



Lasl Speech of IVilliam McKinley, 7 

awful suspense when no information was permitted to 
be sent from Peking, and the diplomatic representa- 
tives of the nations in China, citt off from all com- 
munication, inside and outside of the walled capital, 
were surrounded by an angry and misguided mob 
that threatened their lives; nor the joy that thrilled 
the world when a single message from the Govern- 
ment of the United States brought through our min- 
ister the first news of the safet}' of the besieged 
diplomats. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was 
not a mile of steam railroad on the globe. Now there 
are enough miles to make its circuit man}- times. 
Then there was not a line of electric telegraph; now 
we have a vast mileage traversing all lands and all 
seas. rOod and man have linked the nations together. 
No nation can longer be indifferent to any other.*) 
And as we are brought more and more in touch with 
each other, the less occasion is there for misunder- 
standings, and the stronger the disposition, when we 
have differences, to adjust them in the court of arbi- 
tration, which is the noblest forum for the settlement 
of international disputes. 

IMy fellow citizens, trade statistics indicate that this 
countrj^ is in a state of unexampled prosperity. The 
figures are almost appalling. The}- show that we are 
utilizing our fields and forests and mines, and that we 
are furnishing profitable employment to the millions 
of workingmen throughout the United States, bring- 
ing comfort and happiness to their homes, and making 
it possible to lay by savings for old age and disability. 



i^^ 



8 Last Speech of Williavi McKinley. 

That all the people are participating in this great 
prosperity is seen in every American community and 
shown by the enormous and unprecedented deposits in 
our savings banks. Oiir duty in the care and security 
of these deposits and their safe investment demands 
the highest integrity and the best business capacity 
of those in charge of these depositories of the people's 
earnings. 

We have a vast and intricate business built up 
through years of toil and struggle, in which every 
part of the country has its stake, which will not 
permit of either neglect or undue selfishness. No 
narrow, sordid policy will subserve it. The greatest 
skill and wisdom on the part of manufacturers and 
producers will be required to hold and increase it. 
Our industrial enterprises which have grown to such 
great proportions affect the homes and occupations of 
the people and the welfare of the country. Our 
capacity to produce has developed so enormously and 
our products have so multiplied that the problem of 
more markets requires our urgent and immediate 
attention. Only a broad and enlightened policy will 
keep what we have. No other policy will get more. 
In these times of marvelous business energy and 
gain we ought to be looking to the future, strength- 
ening the weak places in our industrial and commer- 
cial systems, that we may be read}' for any storm or 
strain. 

By sensible trade arrangements, which will not ', 
interrupt our home production, we shall extend the . 
outlets for our increasing surplus. A sj^stem which ; 





Last Speech of William McKinley, 9 

provides a mutual exchange of commodities is mani- 
festl}' essential to the continued and healthful growth 
of our export trade. We must not repose in fancied 
security that we can forever sell everything and bu)^ 
little or nothing. If such a thing were possible it 
would not be best for us or for those with whom we 
deal. We should take from our customers such of 
their products as we can use without harm to our 
industries and labor. Reciprocity is the natural out- 
growth of our wonderful industrial development under 
the domestic policy now firmly established. 

What we produce bej-ond our domestic consump- 
tion must have a vent abroad. The excess must be 
relieved through a foreign outlet, and we should sell 
ever^'where we can and buy wherever the buying will 
enlarge our sales and productions, and thereby make 
a greater demand for home labor. ._- 

Y The period of exclusiveness is past. \ The expan- 
sion of our trade and commerce is the pressing prob- 
lem. Commercial wars are unprofitable. A policy 
of good will and friendly trade relations will prevent 
reprisals. Reciprocit}^ treaties are in harmony with 
the spirit of the times; measures of retaliation are not. 
If perchance some of our tariffs are no longer needed 
for revenue or to encourage and protect our industries 
at home, why should they not be employed to extend 
and promote our markets abroad?/ Then, too, we have 
inadequate steamship sen-ice. New lines of steamers 
have already been put in commission between the 
Pacific coast ports of the United States and those on 

/ the western coasts of Mexico and Central and South 



~> 



lo Last Speech of William McKinley. 

America. These should be followed up with direct 
steamship lines between the eastern coast of the United 
States and South American ports. One of the needs of 
the times is direct commercial lines from our vast fields 
of production to the fields of consumption that we have 
but barely touched. Next in advantage to having the 
thing to sell is to have the conveyance to carry it to the 
buyer. We must increase our merchant marine. We 
must have more ships. They must be iinder the Amer- 
ican flag, built and manned and owned by Americans. 
These will not onl}' be profitable in a commercial sense; 
they will be messengers of peace and amity wherever 
they go. We must build the Isthmian Canal, which 
will unite the two oceans and give a straight line of 
water communication with the western coasts of Cen- 
tral and South America and Alexico. The construction 
of a Pacific cable cannot be longer postponed. 

In the furtherance of these objects of national in- 
terest and concern you are performing an important 
part. This exposition would have touched the heart 
of that American statesman whose mind was ever 
alert and thought ever constant for a larger com- 
merce and a truer fraternity of the republics of the 
New World. His broad American spirit is felt and 
manifested here. He needs no identification to an 
assemblage of Americans anywhere, for the name of 
Blaine is inseparably associated with the Pan-Ameri- 
can movement which finds here practical and sub- 
stantial expression, and which we all hope will be 
firmly advanced by the Pan-American Congress that 
assembles this autumn in the capital of Mexico. 



Last Speak of William Mck'inlcy. ii 

The good work will go on. It cannot be stopped. 
These bnildings will disappear; this creation of art 
and beanty and industr}- will perish from sight, but 
their influence will remain to 

"Make it live beyond its too short living 
With praises and thanksgiving. ' ' 

Who can tell the new thoughts that have been awak- 
ened, the ambitions fired, and the high achievements 
that will be wrought through this exposition? Gen- 
tlemen, let us ever remember that our interest is in 
concord, not conflict; and that our real eminence rests 
in the victories of peace, not those of war. May all 
who are represented here be moved to higher and 
nobler effort for their own and the world's good, and 
out of this city may there come not only greater 
commerce and trade for us all, but, more essential 
than these, relations of mutual respect, confidence, 
and friendship which will deepen and endure. 

Our earnest prayer is that God will graciousl}' 
vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and peace to all our 
neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and 
powers of earth. 

O 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 980 623 2 



